


Makeup Mishaps

by BlackCherrySeltzer



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), YuriRarepairWeek2021, no beta sorry!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28925355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCherrySeltzer/pseuds/BlackCherrySeltzer
Summary: “Ingrid never really was one for makeup, but she’s been trying to use the palettes Annette gave her to explore this new realm. It seemed pretty innocuous to her to have a little makeup on, so why not try it?”Ingrid tries (and fails) to put on makeup until she gets a little help from Abyss’s own beauty expert, Yuri.
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Yuris Leclair | Yuri Leclerc
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	Makeup Mishaps

“Okay, so all I need to do is apply this right above my eyelashes and — ah!” Ingrid shouted as she missed her eyelid and accidentally stabbed her eye with her makeup brush.

“Ugh, Annette made this look so easy earlier…” she muttered to herself as she dabbed her watering eye with a handkerchief. 

Ingrid sat at her desk wiping away her failed attempt at applying eye shadow. Usually her desk was reserved for her studies, but today she turned it into a makeshift vanity. All of the makeup and brushes Annette gave her were laid out across the table and she had set up her mirror directly in front of where she sat. She never really was one for makeup, but she’s been trying to use the palettes Annette gave her to explore this new realm. It seemed pretty innocuous to her to have a little makeup on, so why not try it? 

She let out a heavy sigh in frustration and picked up a different brush to try applying some blush. “Okay, a bigger brush that’s not aimed at my eyes should be easy enough to apply, right?” Giving herself a little pep-talk, she dived right into the blush. Ingrid swirled the brush into the dark red palette and gave a quick flick of her wrist going from the top of her cheekbone downwards in one movement. However in doing so, the powder remnants from the brush tickled her nose and she promptly sneezed and dropped her brush. The brush landed half on the desk and while trying to quickly catch it from rolling off, she managed to knock all the palettes Annette gave her and her small makeup mirror on to the floor.

She yelled loudly in frustration and laid her head on her desk in defeat. “Maybe I’m just not graceful enough for this…”

Ingrid got up and started collecting the makeup from the floor when she suddenly heard a knock at her door. 

“Is everything okay in there? I heard some yelling,” Yuri asked through the door. 

“Yuri? Why are you up here?” Ingrid questioned hearing his voice. She quickly set the makeup and mirror back on the desk and answered the door.

“I had some matters to attend to with your highness and…uh…what’s with your face?” he said distracted by her appearance. He entered the room taking a better look at her. She had a solid streak of deep red blush on one half of her face and on the other side there was dark blue eye shadow smeared all around her eye. 

Yuri stifled a laugh, “Ah, playing dress-up I see!” Ingrid sighed and grabbed her handkerchief and some water to properly wipe everything off her face.

“And failing at it too, apparently…” she lamented, sitting back down at her desk.

“Hm, are you actually trying to use these?” he questioned indicating to the makeup on her desk. “You never struck me as the type to get caught up in such a thing. Or perhaps you are trying to impress someone?” Yuri asked smugly.

“Can’t I just wear makeup for the sake of trying something new with how I look?” she said, voice rising at his accusation. 

“And that “new look” of yours — is it inspired by a court jester? Because if so, I’d say you have that look locked in,” he laughed leaning against the wall.

Having enough of his mockery, she got up and grabbed his arm to direct him to the door. “Okay well, thank you for checking on me, but as you can see I’m fine so you can go now,” she grumbled with frustration.

“Hey, hey, now wait a minute! Okay, sorry, maybe that was a bit too far,” Yuri said protesting against being pushed out the door. “You know, I can help you out with that if you really want to learn how to wear makeup properly.”

She stopped and loosened her grip on his arm, pondering his offer for a moment. Annette’s techniques didn’t seem to help her, and as she stared back at him, she noticed how pristine his makeup was. His eye shadow perfectly complemented the violet color of his eyes, and the slight color on his lips made his smile glisten. Did he always look this nice, or was she just now noticing because she was dabbling into this territory? 

Ingrid blushed, realizing that she was staring at him for a bit too long. “I…uh…um…sure I suppose that couldn’t hurt,” she stammered looking away from him. 

“Charming, aren’t I? These looks don’t come easily though, it does take a lot of practice.” He moved closer to Ingrid and indicated for her to sit back in the chair.

“Is this all the makeup you have?” he questioned, looking over the few palettes and brushes she had scattered on her desk.

“Well, yeah. Annette gave these to me, they seem like plenty enough,” Ingrid argued back.

“Hm, okay I suppose we can work with this for now,” he continued, picking up the foundation and inspecting it.

“First thing’s first, you’re going to want to put this on before getting into anything else. This shade is a little off, but should do fine for teaching purposes. Now, dab a little of it on this brush and make sure you bring it around to your whole face and neck.”

“My neck? I need to put it on there too?”

“Yes, of course! Otherwise the skin-tone on your face and neck will look uneven!”

“Oh, I suppose that makes sense…let me try.” Ingrid did as he instructed and brushed the foundation throughout her face and neck. She then took a look in the mirror and pouted.

“Yuri… I still look like me without any makeup, why do I even need to wear this?” 

“We’ve only done step one, this whole thing is a process to get you to your final look and you need to start with an even playing ground. That’s what the foundation does for your face. Next, let’s move onto the blush.”

Ingrid went for the blush she was using before Yuri came in, but he quickly stopped her. 

“Let’s not use that one. You have lighter skin, so you’ll want to use something a little less deep. Here, try this one,” he said indicating to use the lighter shade of pink next to it. “Just pick up the slightest amount with your brush and apply it to the middle of your cheeks outward towards your cheekbones.”

“Okay, so like this?” Ingrid put a little bit of the light pink blush on her brush and gave a few quick flicks on her cheeks the way he described. She smiled looking into the mirror seeing the subtle pink hue on her cheeks now.

“Perfect! So now one last thing, let’s use a little bit of this brown eye shadow. It’s less bold than the blue you smeared on your eye before, but it will do a better job complementing your pretty green eyes,” he winked and she felt flustered. She quickly busied herself picking up the smallest brush she had, applying the brown color to it. Ingrid held the brush just above her eye, paused, and then put it back down with a sigh.

“This…is the part I typically mess up… I always seem to get it in my eyes rather than on my eyelids,” she frowned into the mirror.

“I suppose this is one of the trickier techniques to master…” he noted. “Why don’t I apply it to your right eye for you so you can get a feel for it, and then try the left one on your own?”

“I…guess that could work,” Ingrid said a little uncertain, handing him the brush. Yuri positioned himself just above her and gently put his hand behind her head. She caught a whiff of his scent as he held her head. It smelled pleasantly of a forest with a hint of a floral undertone. He even has a signature scent to match his looks? Everything about him seemed so well thought out, and here she was barely able to put the minimum into her appearance. 

“Now, close your eyes. There, now I’m going to take this and just gently sweep it across your eyelid and then I’m going to take the darker brown of the palette and apply it to the outer edge of your eye. Are you ready?” he said prepping her so she wouldn’t flinch. She nodded slightly and he began delicately swiping the brush on her eyelid. 

It felt oddly nice to have him hold her there so delicately. Ingrid was well aware of his ruffian background, but she never realized how much of a gentler side he had to him. As he continued his work, he shifted his hand slightly to move her closer and Ingrid leaned into him more in response. She absentmindedly inhaled deeply, taking in more of his pleasant scent. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of Yuri holding her like this. 

She felt him stop and heard him pick up the palette to apply the darker shade of brown to the brush.

“Are you doing alright there?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm!” she said a little too high-pitched, suddenly snapped out of her meandering thoughts.

“Okay we’re almost done — and…there!” Yuri announced pulling his hand away from her. She looked back into the mirror and saw how nicely her eye was painted with a gradient of browns. 

“Wow…that’s actually me?” she said amazed at his work. Yuri smiled proudly and handed her the brush.

“See, it’s not so bad. Now it’s time for you to try.” 

Ingrid took the brush, still a little uncertain. She took a deep breath and steadied her hand as she dabbed the brush in the palette and closed her left eye. She mimicked the strokes he did on her just a few minutes ago. Pausing to inspect her eye to make sure it looked like her right one, Ingrid then applied the darker brown to the brush. She was more confident now with her application from his direction and she went straight to it. 

Finally settling on her last strokes, she looked herself over in the mirror and smiled. This is the exact look she had in her head before but couldn’t quite capture. Subtle, but more refined than she was without makeup.

“How do I look?” she said beaming up at him.

Yuri felt himself suddenly blush as she smiled at him. The makeup did enhance her appearance, but what he really felt flustered at was her sudden confidence. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say he didn’t find her attractive before, but now being so close to her, he was suddenly very aware of his feelings. He cleared his throat to bring himself back to reality. 

“You look quite lovely,” he said in his usual cool demeanor. “But now that I did all of this, I am curious. Why exactly are you _really_ doing all of this. We’ve been classmates for quite a while now, I feel like I know you well enough that you wouldn’t go through this effort if it wasn’t for a reason.”

Ingrid sighed and looked away, “Am I really that transparent? Well you did help me a lot, so I guess I do owe you an explanation… My father wants me to go see him to discuss the future of our house. He’s always wanted me to marry into a wealthy noble family so we can finally stop worrying over money. But I really just want to focus on studying here to become a knight. So I was hoping if I appeared, you know, more feminine than I normally look, he might think I’m looking for a husband here and back off a bit…”

Yuri frowned and felt a little guilty for his earlier accusation. He sighed and looked down at her, “Is that all, huh? For a moment I thought you were going to say you wanted to seduce Sylvain! You really had me worried there, Ingrid!”

She laughed, but looked away with a tinge of sadness, “I know this is silly, and might not even work as I intend… But if doing something as simple as wearing a little makeup here and there will stop my father’s harping and allow me to focus on my goals, then it’ll be worth it…”

Yuri couldn’t help but feel bad for her. He knew how talented she was on the battlefield and how much she wanted to be a knight, but could only imagine how conflicted she felt when all that she’s worked for doesn’t align to her father’s wishes.

“Here, how about I teach you a secret look that will definitely get you what you want,” Yuri said with a sly smile. She looked at him confused. “Just trust me on this. Now then, close your eyes again.”

She gave him a look but then conceded and shut her eyes. Ingrid felt him once again place his hand on her head but was surprised when she suddenly felt the cool sensation of her wet handkerchief wipe across her eyes.

“Yuri! What are you—” she cut herself off when she was able to open her eyes and was met with a serious gaze from Yuri. His face was very close to hers now and she was suddenly aware of how fast her heart was beating as he continued to hold her and gently wipe off her face. 

He finished up cleaning the rest of her blush and foundation off and held her for a few moments. Yuri looked silently into her emerald-colored eyes thinking about the first time he used makeup to appease those around him. Sure, he just mostly wears it for himself now, but as he took in her words, he thought back to the time when he first started wearing his signature look. All of it was to charm and manipulate others around him to get what he wanted. Yuri supposes that all fits into his character now, but Ingrid’s different. He wouldn’t deny her from wearing makeup if she wanted, but she shouldn’t have to use the same schemes he uses to achieve his goals.

“…Yuri?” Ingrid said quietly, breaking the long silence and pulling Yuri back into the moment.

“You’re not going to like this, but you need to tell your father what you want in life upfront rather than deceiving him. I know I’m probably the last person you’d expect to hear this advice from — but say your plan works and you do trick him. Eventually, he will figure out what you’re doing and it will only cause a rift in your relationship with your father that won’t be reparable.” Ingrid looked away and frowned knowing he was right. 

Yuri slowly pulled his hand away from her head and gave her a gentle smile. “Go see him with your face clean like this, and tell him that you’re going to be the strongest knight Fódlan has ever seen!”

She smiled up at him and blushed at his words. “You make it sound so simple… Maybe it is more simple than I’m making the situation out to be…”

“When are you going to see him anyway? I did need to go to Faerghus to check in on my mother, why don’t we go up together? I can help mitigate if he argues with your ideals.”

“I’ll be leaving tomorrow…but you’d really come with me to see him? I know you’re not exactly on good terms with the nobility in Faerghus since you’ve left House Rowe…”

“Yeah well, maybe that drama will help distract your father from talking about marriage. Hell, we could stir things up and announce that we’re getting married!” he chuckled.

Ingrid blushed hard and shoved him back, “We don’t need to do anything like that!! Doesn’t that go against what you just said!?” she yelled covering her face, embarrassed at her own reaction to his jest.

Yuri laughed, “Of course I’m just joking!” He then turned to the door to leave, “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow then! And leave the makeup behind,” he winked and left to go back to Abyss.

Ingrid sighed and turned back to the desk. She packed up all the palettes and brushes, returning her desk to its normal state. Sitting down, she took one last look at herself in the mirror and smiled. 

“Thanks, Yuri,” she said quietly to herself, and folded away her mirror.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for #YuriRarepairWeek2021 for day 1's theme Makeup / Mockingbird!
> 
> I'm also on Twitter! If you want to follow me for more of my works, my handle is @blackcherryselz


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